Following an appeal decision by a Government planning inspector to allow six homes to be built on the site, Oatlands Park’s three Tory councillors are calling for the resignation of two other council members over their part in the planning process.

They have criticised Walton councillor Carole Karp and member for St George’s Hill John Bartlett, saying that five years of acrimonious bickering by residents group Friends of Oatlands was aided by the pair’s ‘inept guidance’.

Tory Cllrs Roy Taylor, Barry Cheyne and Geoffrey Banks also criticised the approach by the Friends as being ‘destructive and objectionable’ and claimed the outcome of the recent planning appeal is a ‘debacle’.

They said: “The ward councillors fear the foundations have been laid for a scheme we may all regret.”

The decision, which will see 75 per cent of the land used for recreational purposes was regarded as a victory for campaigners preventing larger developments. However, Cllr Banks said that the view of Friends of Oatlands was to oppose any development.

He said: “We regret that thanks to the antics of the Friends and their allies the scheme is not, in our view, the best that could have been achieved.”

“Can he seriously continue as a Cabinet member on this basis?” he added.

He also criticised the ‘appalling behaviour’ of Cllr Karp and called for her resignation, citing ‘unprincipled behaviour’.

Cllr Bartlett regarded the councillors’ view as ‘outrageous’. He said: “I have consistently opposed development on that site and have once voted for the six house scheme as others took up too much land.

“I am amazed that the ward councillors can re-enact the truth in this way when they themselves have supported a whole number of developments over the years.”

Cllr Karp also defended her position saying she didn’t support any of the applications: “I have never voted on this issue and I would have personally preferred to have kept the entire area as a recreational ground. This outcome is the best we could have hoped for.”

She refuted any suggestion that she ‘guided’ the Friends, adding: “I had negotiations with the Friends as did other councillors and I attended open meetings but I did not guide or lead them in any way.

Chairman of Friends of Oatlands, Terry King, said: “The Friends mandate has not changed in five years but Oatlands councillors have when they voted for nine and eight houses, but against six.”